A Different Kind of Triangle
by Loveedith
Summary: Sir Anthony and Bertie meet in Tangiers. In the story Bertie is doing a very bad job of living without Edith. Spoilers for 6:8 but not for the CS. I think I will make it AU after 6:8
1. Sad and Drunk

After Sir Anthony left Lady Edith at the altar he moved to Tangiers. He found it a good place to live unnoticed, while trying to avoid meeting Lady Edith or any of the other Crawleys.

Anthony made a number of friends among the English people there. They were the kind of friends you can exchange a few words with when you meet without getting too involved in each other's personal lives. That was a kind of friendship that suited Anthony well at this time of his life - the easy kind of friendship where you tolerate or simply don't care about your fellow man's foibles and flaws. **  
**

Many of the English in Tangiers had something they wanted to avoid in England. They all seemed to have run away from something - well, many of them did - and nobody asked any unnecessary questions.

One of the men Anthony got to know was Peter Pelham, a young Marquess who spent most of his time in Tangiers, trying to avoid marrying his cousin in England. Most mornings and some afternoons the man could be seen with his easel and his palette, painting scenes of local life. He was a gifted painter, although there were perhaps a little too many half-naked men in the paintings to suit Sir Anthony's personal taste.

But, each to their own, and the young Marquess was an easy-going and friendly man. So they got along splendidly together, although in many ways they were very different from each other.

...

In 1925, when Sir Anthony had lived for almost five years in Tangiers, the young Marquess suddenly died.

This was a difficult thing for the men who knew Peter Pelham in Tangiers. You can't leave a dead person unburied for very long in Tangiers, because of the hot weather.

The English in Tangiers didn't know if there was any heir to the title - Lord Hexham certainly didn't have any sons of his own. So they had no way to know if the new Marquess wanted Lord Hexham buried in England or here in Tangiers.

Eight men who had known the late Marquess got together to discuss what to do. They decided to bury Lord Hexham as soon as possible and at the same time try to contact his relatives in England, if there were any. It was possible to open the grave later on and send the body back to England if it was desired by his kinsmen.

One of the English in Tangiers was a retired clergyman. He held a short ceremony for the late Lord Hexham before the body was lowered into the ground.

After the young Marquess was buried it was found out that he really had an heir, a distant cousin called Herbert Pelham. Someone had remembered Lord Hexham talking about his younger cousin Bertie, whom he had grown up with and who was taking care of Brancaster for him while he was away from it.

So Bertie got the news of his cousin's demise from the English in Tangiers just before the newspapers got hold of it and printed it.

...

Up in the aeroplane on his way to Tangiers Bertie surprised himself by not being the slightest bit scared - he didn't mind at all if the plane crashed and put an end to his miserable life.

He wasn't a bit excited either about being up among the clouds like a bird and seeing the countryside like a big velvet blanket - green with brown and blue patches - far beneath him. Normally this would have thrilled him immensely - flying in an aeroplane for the first time in his life - but now everything was grey and indifferent to him.

Bertie was sad that Peter was dead but what he was really devastated about was that he had broken up with Edith. It had happened only half a day earlier and he already felt how impossible it was for him to live without her.

It was really strange, because while he was courting Edith there were often many weeks between the times they could meet. But the difference was, of course, that then he had always had the hope of meeting her again and eventually marry her. Now they had said their goodbyes and she had wished him good luck, doubting they would ever meet again.

That was a thought too hard to bear, and Bertie was thankful that all his tears could be taken as grief for his cousin.

...

When Bertie arrived in Tangiers he looked up the person who had sent him the telegram about his cousin's demise. This man called together most of those who had been at the funeral. This was the way Herbert Pelham first met Sir Anthony Strallan.

If Bertie had known the name of the man who had left Edith at the altar, he would probably have reacted more strongly when meeting him. But to him the man presented as Sir Anthony was just one of these people who had been friendly to Peter. Bertie was introduced to more than twenty new people that afternoon, so he forgot Anthony's name as soon as he heard it.

"Your cousin was a very nice man", Sir Anthony said after he was introduced. "And a good painter. I think he was happy here."

"Yes, I know he was", Bertie said. "He felt more free to be himself here - if you know what I mean. It's just - I miss him so much."

And Bertie eyes filled with tears again. Half of the tears were for Edith, of course, but he didn't tell anyone about that.

"The English here are very tolerant", Sir Anthony said. "We all knew about Lord Hexham's - what shall I call it? preferences? - but none of us cared. We all have things we have run away from."

Bertie, of course, had no idea that his wonderful Edith was the thing Sir Anthony had - literally - run away from.

...

When Sir Anthony went to the bar for his nightcap two days later he found the new Marquess in a corner, sobbing over a glass of whiskey.

"I'm sorry about your cousin" the older man said. "He was a nice man and we all liked him."

Bertie looked up and when he saw the older man he got up to stand on shaky legs, asking Anthony to join him. Anthony was quick to accept and sit down, fearing the young Marquess was about to topple over. The glass in front of him was obviously far from the only one he had gulped down this evening.

Bertie sat down again, still sobbing.

"I know I'm making a fool of myself", he snivelled. "But I'm not crying for Peter. That's only part of it."

"Ah!" Sir Anthony said. "Now then, what else is making you sad?"

"I'm drunk...I'm so...intoxi...toxi...ineb...ebri...well, you know..."

Bertie tried to lift his glass but he couldn't get a firm grip on it, so he put it down again with a bang. Fortunately it didn't break.

"If being drunk makes you sad, you'd better stop drinking", Anthony said with a friendly smile.

The waiter came to their table and Anthony ordered a whiskey for himself and a cup of coffee for the new Marquess. Bertie didn't protest. They were both silent, Bertie endeavouring with little success to dry his eyes with the back of his hand.

"I'm worthless", Bertie slurred. "I'm a cruel, awful man... I hate myself..."

"Surely not", Anthony said. "You seem to be rather nice. Lord Hexham used to say his cousin was the kindest man in England. And if you really _were_ bad, you wouldn't be crying about it."

"But I _am_ bad", Bertie sobbed. "You don't know me. You don't know what I did...I had the most wonderful girl in England and I threw her away. Although I could see how sad I made her."

"Well, I can certainly relate to that", Sir Anthony said with a sigh.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment!

...

This is possibly very un-historical, I haven't done much research on the English in Tangiers at the time.

...

I got the inspiration for the story from a comment by Guest to _A Young Man with His Life Ahead of Him: "_ Given that both Anthony and Bertie are sweet guys, would be interesting to see how it would be with them meeting too."

So please keep commenting if you want me to keep writing! I get many ideas from all your lovely comments!

...

I placed Anthony in Italy in _A Young Man.._ , and in Tangiers here. Of course they are different fanfiction versions. In _A Young man_... Anthony and Bertie haven't met - yet.

But that is the lovely thing about writing fiction - I can do as I please. And I can do differently each time.


	2. Impossible to Forgive

Sir Anthony and Bertie were both quiet for a long time. Anthony was suddenly feeling very sad, remembering how devastated Edith had looked behind that veil, dressed in her wonderful white gown.

He had known at the time that he was breaking her heart, but he had still decided that he had to leave her. He couldn't bear the thought of becoming a burden to her.

Anthony had thought less and less about Edith as time went by, and the memories of her had had faded, but now he was thrown back through the years to that awful day again. He could see her sad face just at clearly as he could on the day it happened. It was like the presence of this miserable young Marquess brought him closer to Edith in a strange, almost magical way.

He took a sip of his whiskey, then he sighed again. Of course it was only the young man's words about throwing his girl away that had made him think about Edith.

It was nothing stranger than that. Of course not.

...

The friendly old man across the table had said that he could relate to what Bertie had told him about throwing his girl away even though he made her sad.

Bertie was too drunk to remember to be polite. Otherwise he would most certainly have asked what the man meant by his words.

Was this man perhaps in the habit of breaking women's hearts? Time and time again ever since he was a young man? Or was he thinking about one particular time, one particular woman?

Bertie just didn't care. It was enough for his muddled brain to worry about his own misfortunes.

"I love her so much", he sniffled. "I can't _live_ without her."

"Now, Lord Hexham, why did you leave your girl if you love her so much?" Sir Anthony asked sympathetically. "And if you feel so bad about leaving her?"

Sir Anthony wondered if he had any right to ask a question like that, considering what he himself had done less than five years earlier.

"Well, it's comp...li...ca...ted..." Bertie said, trying to articulate the word. He felt his head was much too muddled to speak, he needed to sober up a bit. He tried to take a sip of his coffee without spilling it out, but he had to give that up for the time being. It was still too hot and his hand was too shaky.

"Be...sides...she is not my girl... not any more..." That thought seemed too much for the young man to bear, so he started sobbing again.

After that they were both silent again for a while, each of them thinking about how badly he had treated Edith.

...

Bertie wanted to tell all of it to this friendly old man. He wondered briefly if he really could tell Edith's story - wouldn't that be a betrayal? The thought of it was going round and round in his brain, making him feel all dizzy.

Then he decided that he could do it anyhow - this man was a total stranger. He didn't know Bertie, he didn't know Edith. There wasn't much risk involved. Especially if Bertie never mentioned her name.

"They live in this big house...", Bertie started. "Her father is an Ea... - well..." He stopped himself before he uttered the whole word. There weren't all that many Earls in England after all.

"I see", Sir Anthony said, although he didn't understand very much of this. Except that Bertie had most likely abandoned an Earl's daughter, which sounded a bit too familiar to be comfortable.

"And - well - the little girl...she didn't tell me..."

"Ah", Sir Anthony said, not really sure what Lord Hexham was talking about. But he could as well let the man ramble on, he seemed a little less drunk now, and though his talk wasn't entirely coherent it was at least clear enough to listen to.

"And that's the big problem!" Bertie added, as if that explained it all.

...

Bertie was quiet for a while again, concentrating on his coffee and finally managing to take a sip from it.

The coffee seemed to have a sobering effect on him. Suddenly his brain seemed crystal clear. He wondered why he was telling all this to a perfect stranger. Edith had been right in not trusting him, it seemed.

The utter clearness only lasted for a few moments, but it was enough to get Bertie starting on a very different part of Edith's story.

...

This time Bertie's story was much more coherent and much more painful for Sir Anthony to listen to.

"She was hurt before", Bertie said. "That makes it worse..."

Anthony just listened with a supportive smile. He wasn't really interested in hearing about all Lord Hexham's problems, but he was too kind to interrupt. Perhaps the man would feel better when he had told his story, Anthony thought.

"She was so hurt...she was left... at her wedding...in front of... the altar..."

Sir Anthony was shocked to hear this. He didn't want to listen to anything more now. He regretted that he hadn't just gulped down his whiskey and then bid the Marquess good-night a long time ago.

"Can you imagine anyone leaving a girl at the altar, dressed in her white gown and in front of all her friends and family?" Bertie said, suddenly able to utter a whole long sentence. Perhaps it was the thought of some one treating Edith like that which made his tongue easier to command. **  
**

Anthony looked at Bertie. It was obvious that Lord Hexham wanted an answer from him now.

"It sounds rather cruel", Sir Anthony stuttered with an embarrassed smile.

"Cruel, yes, you can say that again", Bertie said, shaking his head.

Anthony _didn't_ say it again. In fact he couldn't utter a single word more, he was feeling too queasy. This was horrible. He had wanted to be kind and supportive to this sad and friendly man, and now he had all this thrown back at him.

The only comforting thought was that Lord Hexham was of course talking about an entirely different woman. And that he had no idea whatsoever what Anthony had done.

"So cruel", Bertie repeated. "But who am I to say anything about it? I threw her away...I was just as cruel. Not all that much of a difference..."

Anthony swallowed hard. Then - at last - he managed to get some words out.

"I'm sure it has been impossible for her to forgive that man", he said with a voice that he had difficulties to keep steady.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading! And thank you so much for all the lovely reviews to last chapter! Please keep telling me what you think!


	3. A Child out of Wedlock

"I'm sure it has been impossible for her to forgive that man", the friendly man had said about the man who had jilted Edith at the altar.

Bertie ignored the old man's remark. It wasn't a question after all. Instead he wondered what he had told this man about Edith.

He was certain that he had told him too much about Edith, much more than he ought to. Had he told him that Marigold was Edith's daughter? He thought he remembered doing that. He shouldn't have done it.

But he had explained to him why he had left Edith, and that was part of the explanation after all.

Bertie felt ashamed of himself. It wasn't his secret to tell. Edith had been right in not trusting him, it seemed.

"Well, of course she couldn't forgive him", Sir Anthony said with a sigh when Bertie didn't say anything about it. "Who could ever be able to forgive a humiliation like that?"

"You don't know her", Bertie said. "She forgave him the very next morning. That's the kind of woman she is. She is strong and courageous and beautiful and forgiving and... There is no one like her and I can't live without her. I could have had her and I threw her away...I regretted it while I was doing it... but that didn't stop me..."

To Sir Anthony's dismay Bertie started crying again.

"I'm horrible", he sobbed. "I can never forgive myself..."

...

Bertie did nothing but sob for a minute or two, then he pulled himself together again.

 **"** She got over that man", he said. "She got over that editor who died in Germany too, which was probably harder because of the little girl. Just like she is probably getting over me now."

Bertie sighed.

Editor in Germany? Anthony wondered. What was this?

"I'm sure she is taking the breakup much better than I am. Getting on with her life. While I sit here sobbing, drunk as a fiddler, crying like a baby. Making a fool of myself, in front of some one I hardly know. No offence, you are very nice and friendly, but I really shouldn't behave like this."

"It's quite alright", Anthony said. "If it makes you feel better." **  
**

"Well", Bertie said. "I'm afraid it doesn't. Which is not your fault at all."

...

Anthony couldn't stop thinking about what Bertie had said about his abandoned girlfriend.

An Earl's daughter? Jilted at the altar? It couldn't be... could it? But who else could it be? Men leaving women at the altar wasn't very common, Anthony knew. Thankfully not, he had to admit. And the way Lord Hexham described her ... strong and courageous and beautiful... Edith was all those things...

Anthony decided that he had to find out. He hoped Lord Hexham's girl was some one else than Edith but he started to doubt it.

"Do you know anything more about the man who jilted your girl?" he asked.

Bertie, who had stopped crying again, looked at Anthony in consternation. Why was the man so interested in that? It had happened many years ago, it wasn't important any longer. Edith had got over it, at least she had told him so.

But the man was so friendly that he decided to oblige him. This was nothing Edith was ashamed of, after all.

"Well, she probably told me his name, but I have forgotten it", Bertie started.

Well, Anthony thought, that explains why he didn't say anything when he was introduced to me.

"He was wounded in the war", Bertie added. "She thought he was a hero. There was something wrong with one of his legs if I remember it correctly. He was quite a bit older than her also, I think. She loved him, she admired him, he mistreated her and she forgave him. She told me she had been too pushy, the man had told her over and over again that he didn't want to marry her. But she had insisted."

"Oh!" Anthony said. This was beginning to sound far too familiar. Even if his arm had become a leg.

"Well, I don't really believe that", Bertie said. "She has never been pushy with me - I am the one to be pushy. It doesn't sound like her at all."

"Perhaps she has changed", Anthony said.

"Yes, that's what she told me. That she decided never to run after a man again. That she should remain a spinster."

That was so obviously the opposite of what Anthony had wanted for her when he left her. He couldn't help sighing as he picked up his glass.

...

Anthony was getting more and more certain that some strange fate had brought Edith's new man to him. The young chap with his life ahead of him that Anthony had prayed for her to get.

A young Marquess - that was even better than he would have expected. But this young man was also a little bit undignified, crying like this to a total stranger. Would a man like that be able to stand up for Edith, if he needed to?

And he had left her, which wasn't good at all. This was not what Anthony had wished for her. If the girl Bertie was talking about was indeed Edith.

"Why did you leave her then", Anthony asked. "If you love her so much?"

"She wanted to bring her, you see", Bertie sighed. "The little girl. The family's ward."

"And you wouldn't let her?" Anthony asked.

"Of course I let her!" Bertie said with indignation. "I will...I would let her do anything she wants."

"So, what is the problem then?" Anthony asked, feeling quite a bit confused. "Why did you leave her?"

"Because I am an utter fool", Bertie said. "That is the long and the short of it. But she must think it was because I look down on her for having a child out of wedlock..."

...

A child out of wedlock?! Anthony almost choked on his whiskey.

This couldn't be Edith after all. Or could it? Had the humiliation he put her through made her so reckless?

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading! And thank you so much for all the lovely reviews to last chapter! Please continue to leave comments!

...

I made Bertie drunk in this story because I'm sure he wouldn't be so open about Edith to a total stranger if he had been sober. He has sobered up a bit in this chapter, but not enough to keep his mouth shut, I'm afraid.

...

I'm off to London to see my daughter who lives there. No updates to any of my stories for at least a week.


	4. Not a Gentleman

Bertie looked at Sir Anthony, wondering why the man suddenly looked so shocked. Then he realised that he probably hadn't told him about Edith's daughter earlier on. He had only _assumed_ that he had done so.

Bertie wanted to bite his tongue off for doing it now. But it was definitely too late to take it all back, so he tried to smooth it over somehow.

"She is a wonderful little girl", he said. "And I had already promised that she could bring her with her if she married me. I was quite looking forward to becoming a father to her. Knowing that she is E... - _her_ daughter makes the little one still more precious to me, of course. And it makes the whole thing so much easier to understand. Why take the child from a big estate to live in a land agent's cottage? I thought that a little strange at the time. When she first asked me about it."

That single E was the last missing piece in Sir Anthony's puzzle. Now he knew for certain that he had something in common with this young disconcerted man.

They had both been courting Lady Edith Crawley. And they had both abandoned her.

...

So Edith still wasn't married, Anthony thought. She had had a child out of wedlock. Her life hadn't been at all as happy as Anthony had hoped for when he left her.

Anthony's first impulse was to go back to England, propose to Edith again and promise that he would take care of her and her child.

But of course, there had been too much water under the bridges. Edith didn't love him any longer, of course not. She loved this young and - in spite of his blabbering - rather sympathetic Marquess.

Edith had loved another man before she met Herbert Pelham but after Anthony left her. That relationship also seemed to be over for Edith by now - Herbert Pelham had said something about an editor who died in Germany, could that be the man?

Who ever the father of Edith's child was, he must have been someone who hadn't wanted to marry her. Or perhaps someone who hadn't been able to marry her, but still hadn't refrained from sleeping with her.

That man couldn't have been a gentleman, of course. If he had he wouldn't have seduced a young Lady, the daughter of and Earl, and then left her alone with a child that she had to hide.

In Sir Anthony's eyes Edith was not to blame for whatever had happened.

But Anthony himself was, to a certain extent.

...

Years had gone by since Sir Anthony left Edith that horrible day. Many things had happened to Edith, though nothing much had happened to Anthony himself.

The best thing Anthony could do for Edith now was probably to try to get young Herbert back to her.

But was Herbert Pelham worthy of Edith?

...

Sir Anthony looked at the young Marquess at the other side of the table.

If that woman really was Edith - which Sir Anthony was certain of now - was this man really worthy of her? No matter if she had a hidden child or not.

The fact that Herbert Pelham was a Marquess made him a distinguished man in Sir Anthony's eyes. But, at the same time, the man he saw in front of him seemed very immature and undignified. He really shouldn't be prattling like this about his girl's deepest secrets to a total stranger. Still less to someone who had known Edith.

A gentleman should know when to keep his mouth shut. And what to keep it shut about. Even when he was drunk.

On the other hand, Herbert Pelham didn't know that Sir Anthony wasn't a total stranger to Edith. Besides, Edith's secret was safe with Anthony. He would never do anything that would hurt her.

Except leaving her at the altar, he had to remind himself.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you for the many nice comments to last chapter! Please keep commenting!

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And thank you to everyone who wished me a good time in London! I had that.

...

What would have happened if DA hadn't been such a tremendous success? What if they had ended it after season 3, when the actors' first contracts were over?

This is what I _think_ would have happened, not always the same as what I _wish_ would have happened:

1\. Matthew wouldn't have died, of course. That story would have ended with him and Mary and George in the hospital.

2\. Sybil wouldn't have died in childbirth, only almost. Clarkson would have saved her life. Little Sybbie would have had another name. The Bransons would have stayed at Downton until the end of the season and then moved away.

3\. There would have been no Rose. She was there to replace Sybil.

4\. What about Edith, then? I think JF planned the ending Edith got in S6 from the very beginning. The underdog who triumphs. She would have met someone like Bertie in the first CS, the one after S2 - a young man whom everybody felt sorry for - and he would have inherited a title and a big estate in the end of S3. And Robert would have said: "If anyone had told me _Sybil_ would hitch up with a mechanic and Edith would marry one of the grandest men in England..." Marrying Sir Anthony wouldn't have been a big enough triumph.

5\. Sir Anthony wouldn't have come back in that Christmas special. He wasn't mentioned even once during the war in S2. He came back only because JF needed him to jilt Edith.

6\. There would be no Gregson and no Marigold and no Drewes. (Gregson was never supposed to marry Edith either. For the same reason, not a big enough triumph.)

And I for one would never have started writing fanfiction. Which has given me so much pleasure and so many friendly comments over the years. And made me investigate so many interesting things.


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